Summary
In this inaugural episode of the Yinspired podcast, Dr. Haunani Chong Drake, mixed-Asian American Doctor of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine and Licensed Acupuncturist, introduces listeners to the concept of Yin in a Yang-centric world, emphasizing the importance of authentic conversations about healing, spirituality, and community. The podcast aims to create a brave space for discussing taboo topics in medicine and personal growth, while honoring diverse perspectives and experiences. Haunani shares her vision for the podcast, which is rooted in the belief that healing is a personal and collective journey that requires openness, curiosity, and a willingness to explore the unseen forces that influence our lives.
Takeaways
This podcast is dedicated to the voices of the unheard.
Authentic connection is essential for healing.
Yin represents the nurturing and receptive aspects of life.
The mission is to shift paradigms in healing and medicine.
Brave conversations are necessary for personal and collective growth.
Exploring taboo topics can destigmatize and reduce shame.
Community and connection are vital in the healing process.
Unedited conversations foster genuine dialogue.
Nourishment is more important than productivity.
Transformation requires diverse perspectives and openness.
Chapters
00:00 Welcome to Yinspired: A Journey of Healing
02:50 The Essence of Yin and Yang in Healing
05:30 The Vision Behind Yin Spired Podcast
08:16 Exploring the Unseen in Medicine
10:33 Creating a Brave Space for Conversations
13:32 The Role of Community in Healing
15:43 Influences and Inspirations for Yinspired
17:30 The Importance of Authenticity in Podcasting
18:52 Celebrating Vulnerability and Connection
19:44 The Future of Healing Conversations
20:37 Exploring Uncomfortable Conversations in Healing
21:31 The Power of Personal Transformation
23:26 Challenging Perspectives for Growth
25:04 Liberation Through Self-Discovery
27:26 Navigating Identity and Vulnerability
29:14 Setting the Stage for the Podcast
31:40 Dr. Haunani's Journey and Background
34:26 Integrative Medicine Beyond the Allopathic Model
37:07 Future Topics on Yinspired
Podcasts that are informing and inspiring the birth of Yinspired
On Being with Krista Tippett | The On Being Project
We Can Do Hard Things - The Podcast
Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps
Strong Women in Medicine s/Candace Bellamy, MD
Shadow to Self w/Acharya Shunya
Wiser Than Me w/Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Chinese Medicine/East Asian Medicine Focused Podcasts
Dialogues on Applied Channel Theory
The Intersectional Fertility Podcast
Black Beryl w/Dr. Pierce Salguero & Dr. Lan Li
ACU-Track: The Acupuncture Research Podcast
Full Transcript
Please practice patience. This whole podcasting thing is very new to me. As a one-person team I’m using automated transcript notes for the time being. While I have read through them for correct spellings, the sentence structure gets wonky at times in the transcript. My sincere apologies and I hope it doesn’t take away from the content. If it does, please send me a kind email or message and I’ll do my best within reason.
Dr. Haunani, DACM (00:01)
dedicated to all the grandmothers and aunties whose voices weren't heard or listened to, created for the daughters. Aloha and welcome to Yinspired. This is a podcast where we will be tending to the Yin in a yang-centric world through a lens of yin and yang and an inextricable connection to earth, the cosmos and all things, especially the unseen. We will be diving into different perspectives in Chinese medicine and integrative medicine.
So let's gather around. You know those conversations you have with a really good friend or it's someone you can just pour your heart out to? You can be authentically yourself and cut through all the BS and you just get into all the good stuff in life that makes you feel alive. It might be talking about taboo topics. It might be about relationships. And a lot of times, many of you as healers or in the closet healers,
You like to talk about what's not being talked about, the unseen, the spiritual. I get you. I have these conversations every week. I've had them every week for decades with people I've just met and people I've known for decades. And the one thing I almost hear after every conversation is, I wish more people were talking about this. I wish I didn't feel so alone. This is that podcast. And so I'm inviting you, whether you consider yourself a healer,
most of us don't, however other people would. If you're a healer or if you're in a closet healer, it doesn't matter what degree or certifications you have. Although many of us have spent a lot of time, a lot of money going to school, getting certificates, getting special training. And yet, and yet here we are still feeling alone, feeling like you wish more people would have real honest raw conversations that really make you feel alive.
So I want you to imagine sitting around a warm, cozy fire, allowing your voice, your visions and dreams to be shared with ease and openness. Imagine learning, laughing and growing with others who also have a very different vision for our current model of medicine or healthcare, who understand the importance of the spiritual alongside the science and who've never felt like they belong no matter how much they fit in.
The problem is many of us, the healers, the seekers, storytellers, visionaries, and spiritually guided, we have forced ourselves to learn languages, spend a lot of time and money getting degrees and certifications, and to fit in, to find ways to fit in, even when every cell in our body, the voice in our hearts, and the stirring within us tells us otherwise. We're all craving authentic connection these days and to express our visions freely.
and to be received with curiosity, openness, and possibility. We're willing to do the hard work of self-growth, healing, and spiritual awakening for our own and collective liberation, but more likely because we know no other way. Yinspired podcast is your virtual warm cozy fire where we gather and celebrate the unseen, possibility, the underrepresented, and especially the Yin.
So you're invited to join us in these casual and authentic conversations healers, seekers, and the spiritually inclined have among themselves. You're invited to join us as we bring much needed voice and representation to different perspectives in Chinese medicine, integrative medicine, and healing. These conversations with everyday practitioners, students, visionaries, healers, and traditional medicine practitioners from around the globe living their lives in extraordinary ways will open your heart and mind.
to the unseen life forces influencing our lives in subtle and not so subtle ways.
So who am I? I'm your host. My name is Haunani. Yes, it's Hawaiian, but don't worry, it is easy. It's like saying, how are you doing? You know, that first part, how? Haunani. My name is Haunani Chong Drake. I'm a doctor of acupuncture in Chinese medicine. I'm also a semi-retired yoga and Ayurveda educator and mentor. I'm also a mom, a dog mama, and a military spouse. More importantly,
I've always asked, ever since I was a little kid, what is this all about?
I remember being a little kid looking up at the stars. And I think we all have this moment, or maybe you remember this as a kid, looking up at the stars and asking a question, an existential question. Mine was, what is this all about? What was yours?
I really feel like I've been chasing that answer, looking for that answer ever since. I've also always been fascinated by the human potential and healing, not curing, healing. Today, I consider myself a bridge builder, connector, and storyteller between science and spirituality, external and internal, east and west.
intellectual and intuition, suffering and sacred, yin and yang, and the personal and communal. As a mixed Asian American raised in a community of aloha, yes, I was raised as a hula dancer, and still am, I choose to nourish and take my ancestral and mixed cultural roots into my work as examples of healing, awakening, and liberation for all bodies on the earth.
I know in my heart I'm not here to be liked. I'm here to make a difference.
now that you have a taste of what Yinspired is going to be about, I wanted to take this time to give you a rundown of the mission and vision and give you a little taste of what we're going to be doing here in our time together. So the mission of Yinspired is to shift the paradigms in healing and medicine while tending to and uplifting Yin in a yang-centric world, one conversation at a time.
The vision of this podcast, I know it's lofty, but I'm a dreamer and visionary, always have been, but I think you'll get it, wink, wink, is to create a world where the unseen forces in life and medicine are honored and practiced, allowing for personal and collective connection and healing. I told you I was a dreamer. So this is what Yinspired's about. What does it mean though to tend to and uplift YIN in a YONG-centric world?
We're going to obviously have to have an entire podcast just on the basics and foundations of yin and yang in case that's a new paradigm or concept for you. But don't worry. We will.
I want to take this time to share with you a little history of where this podcast is coming from.
So I've been dreaming about starting a podcast since 2016. And here we are in the new year on the, or, and here we are in the new year during spring festival of 2025, happy snake year, by the way. I think it's really appropriate. I am a metal monkey. So I think it's really appropriate this year for me. Well, a lot of people are being asked to rest for me.
the timing and the alignment of starting yin-spired is right on point. And I'm really excited to explore with different voices in Chinese medicine, this idea, this concept of tending to the yin and uplifting yin in a yang-centric world.
I have a feeling many of you who have learned yin-yang philosophy, who have studied Chinese medicine, listen to that one phrase and you melt and you go, yes, then yes, you already get me, this podcast is for you. But what about everyone else who might not know about yin-yang? Okay. Let me get into a little more. A yang-centric world reflects the qualities of active movement,
while at the same time suppressing the yin or pushing it off to the side. Yang is associated with the masculine. It's been put on a pedestal Where more is better, independence is valued over interdependence, and profits are more important than people. Where hustle culture reigns. Sound familiar? It's time to honor, give voice to, and tend to the yin.
the balancing energy of yang.
These waters we're swimming in right now, these waters we're walking through, these waters we have been born to are out of balance. We feel it. We're living in it. We can see it. And we're witnessing it every day all around us. So I really, really have been dreaming about hosting a podcast where we explore how to bring more harmony into our lives through the paradigm of yin and yang.
Podcasts have been an incredibly powerful medium for me in my personal life and in my healing journey. What I've discovered is through the power of listening to other people's stories and perspectives, listening to the way people synthesize information in new ways, I have had the most
healing moments So for me in early 2024, it became so clear that it was time to do this podcast. You know that voice inside that has been pushing you and guiding you your whole life and sometimes you block it out and sometimes you're very present to it. Often I hear my voice, this voice when I'm in nature or I get really silent and when I'm not all in my own entangled knots of emotions or
expectations or my to-do list. Well, that voice was telling me there are no more excuses. There are no more excuses. And I knew exactly what this voice was talking about. I knew in my heart of heart, the year of the dragon, Yinspired, would finally begin. I knew the dragon was right there, had my back, and kept pushing me. It's time to rise. It's time to bring this forward. And so here we are in the year of the snake.
So why this podcast now? besides my own personal reasons, I really feel like modernization has left us without close circles of women and mentors, or communities of care, as I like to call them, where wisdom is lived and passed on through our daily interactions. We used to cook together. We used to sit around a fire at night. We used to be in connection with each other.
physically through time spent. And, we would have that space and that time to go past the superficial and into the heart. those are the kind of conversations I love. Every time I get off the phone with one of my friends or soul sisters or soul brothers, I just light up, When I've had conversations in the clinic and
have a deeper connection, dare I say a spiritual connection or like an inner knowing that you've known this person for a long time.
If we get to the heart, it's so full. Those conversations fill you up rather than drain you. I also hear other people say, gosh, I wish we had more spaces like this, or wow, you know, I haven't shared this with anyone or I feel so alone. I felt so alone. I didn't know others were having this conversation.
I've been hearing this for decades. I feel so alone. I wish more people would talk about this. And I love talking about this stuff. I do not shy away from taboo talk picks. So this is what this podcast is. Also, I really want to get into topics through the lens of Yin and Yang and not really through the lens of right or wrong or better than or worse than.
But through curiosity and an exploration, I want to get into some of the topics that some of the other podcasts on Chinese medicine might ignore or maybe skirt around. I want to dive into uncomfortable conversations. In fact, we will. Things like commodification and capitalism in the wellness industry, mental health, emotional health, health disparities, health equity.
Having conversations about body positivity. I also want us to explore our isms and how isms show up in our clinical space. I want us to explore not only the commodification, some might call it the colonization of the wellness industry or self-care. I want us to look into motherhood, into our fluids, like our menstrual cycles, blood, sweat, tears,
the parts that others might think are gross or we're told to ignore or just not talked about. To me, these are so important. And if you've studied Chinese medicine or any aspect of medicine, you know the body is fully connected. All the parts communicate to the other parts. So why do we keep ignoring these conversations about the basic body functions? To me, having these conversations, these uncomfortable conversations,
They're so enlivening and enlightening and actually help us to destigmatize and reduce shame and guilt. in a world where we are constantly told we are not enough, you're not good enough, you need this product, you need that to feel whole. Let's change that.
Let's really look at self-care as a radical act of getting to know ourselves, rather than fixing things from the outside, but really going to the inside.
I really hope these conversations and these stories build bridges and normalize some of these unspoken topics. I hope these conversations and stories mend our disconnection and widen our perspective on what does healing mean? What does medicine mean? What are our roles as healthcare practitioners, as doctors, as mothers, as CEOs, as scientists? I hope these...
conversations help us to befriend our bodies, our minds, our emotions, our pain, our past, so we can heal and liberate ourselves personally and collectively. And really, you know, the big vision here, like I said, is to shift paradigms. But the vision is for these conversations to mend a broken healthcare system and to shift the paradigm of what is possible. Obviously, it's going to take all of us to do that.
together as we grow, as we share these conversations with colleagues, with friends, with family, together we'll destigmatize the unseen, we'll destigmatize the spiritual, the subtle, and all those taboo topics. Together we'll make amends and continue to heal and awaken.
Together we'll learn from each other through tears, laughter, yes, even disagreements and love. And together we can make a difference, one extraordinary conversation at a time.
through the last 10 years of consuming podcasts there are some that have just been there day in and day out, really informing my life and where I'm putting my attention So I want to take this moment to give a little shout out to some of those podcasts. First and foremost, thank you, Michael Max for creating Qiological.
I started listening back when we lived in Okinawa, Japan, and I can say without a doubt, if it were not for your podcast, I am pretty sure I would have left East Asian medicine and acupuncture altogether. It has truly been a lifeline. Also, Sabina Wilms and Leo Locke, thank you so much for A Pebble in the Cosmic Pond. It was your season two that I was listening to at the beginning of 2024.
when I was listening to conversations with women in Chinese medicine and my soul just kept saying, yes, more of this. And thank you, Sabina, for your mentorship and your guidance by saying, yes, there is more space for more of these conversations. I know that this field has so many incredible podcasts, too many to name. I'll put them in the Substack
notes and give credit where credit is due.
Please know that as a recovering perfectionist, I really aim to do as little editing as possible There is something so inviting to feel like you're in the room with the guest, to be sitting with the guest and having all of those real time interruptions really brings the listener into the world. Now, I know for some of you, if you're like, no, I only listen to high production.
all the bells and whistles podcasts. Otherwise it's too distracting for me. I get that. I really do. This might not be the podcast for you. Although I will say that audio is super important to me. So if audio is important to you and you want to have that more uncut, unedited experience of what it's like to be, in conversation, please stick around.
I am going to ask you for your patience as I figure this all out.
Another aspect of this podcast that's really important to share with you is this idea of creating a brave space. Yeah, you heard me right. A brave space. a brave space is different from a safe space.
around 2020 through another training I was taking, I heard the term brave space and every cell in my body lit up. I was like, yes, that's what I've been looking for. What is that? Because whatever that is feels so much more in alignment than this idea of a safe space.
So I had to do some research and I found that this term brave space was popularized around 2013 by a book, the art of effective facilitation by Brian Rao and Chris DeClemens. it was a term used as an invitation to replace this idea of a safe space. my goodness, try to say that 10 times quickly. So this term was used, especially on college campuses.
For me as a facilitator, as an educator, I've taught in so many different organizations for thousands of students all over the globe, teachers, teacher trainings, et cetera. I realized...
having a safe space, like a truly, truly safe space, was never going to happen. so when this term brave space was introduced to me, it just felt so right.
I really envision this to be a brave space for us to sit around the metaphoric and hopefully some of you actually sit around a fire while you listen to these conversations.
with your favorite warm cup in your hand, the stars above, maybe your bestie or soul family around and listen.
I want this to be a place where we celebrate you and what's real, the vulnerable, the fears, the excitement of being at the forefront of integrative medicine. And even if you don't have a fancy title or expensive piece of paper in a frame, this is about having conversations truth seekers have. It's really a celebration of having an open mind and being excited for an emerging paradigm shift away from materialism and back towards balance of knowing that slowing down and resting
is very much rebellion in itself, in a world where everything is go, go, go, and more is better, and the only things that you can see, touch, and measure are quote unquote evidence-based. I would love for us to find a place where it's okay to have doubts, to not have answers, to have skepticism, to show our heartache, to express our joy, and also really revel in whatever we find to be beautiful.
we can do this together. I know we can. I mean, at least I have the vision to. So I want this to be a celebration of us coming together and coming together of no one right way, but a celebration of all of our ways unfolding together. So one of the things that, again, I'll have an entire podcast on Yin and Yang itself, but I want this to be nourishing, right? Yinspired. This is not another podcast to learn something from.
and to know more things. We have a ton of podcasts, especially in the field of Chinese medicine, where you can get the academic, the real geeky history context that I personally love. That's not my forte. My forte is getting into more of those uncomfortable conversations or the taboo topics.
This is not about adding something else to your to-do list. If anything, this is about nourishment,
This is about how do we harness rest and darkness when the bells and whistles and the frantic life is going on around us. When we can harness truth telling and getting real, real with ourselves, we can learn to nourish ourselves, this, this is the real self work, This is going to lead to more harmony and creativity. This is going to create ripples in your family or your community.
So many of us right now are asking, how do we make a difference? How can one little person make a difference? What needs to change? Most of you, I think if you really get still enough, you know what needs to change personally, right? And it's not really about a change, like the way we change our clothes. You just take off one thing and put on another and poof, you're a different person. What we're really asking about is transformation.
What needs to happen? What are the little things that have to go on? What are all the ingredients that need to be there for a seed to grow into a plant, into a blooming fruiting tree, right? What are those ingredients? For each of us, it's totally different. But at this time, when so many of us are aware that things have to change, that things need to transform,
We need to be very curious about different perspectives. As I've grown up in different communities of care with different cultural backgrounds and different beliefs and ethos outside of, what we would consider mainstream American culture. What I've come to find out is when it's time to course correct,
When there's time to be looking for transformation, we need to ask those who have different points of view, who have different angles, who have different perspectives, and who have different paradigms, we need to ask them what they are seeing. Oftentimes, these are the voices of underrepresented or minorities
I am going to be asking these different perspectives from different angles within Chinese medicine and integrative medicine circles to share their perspective, not from a place again of right or wrong, but just different.
when we can expand and see what others are seeing, we can also begin to examine and look at the lens that we are looking through.
if we want change, we cannot use the same systems of thinking or the same paradigm to usher in a new way. It seems so obvious when I say that, but how many times in my own life, how many times in your own life have you tried to use the same method?
or the same way, hoping it was going to be different, Really, we have to have conversations with people who challenge, who make us a little uncomfortable for us to really see where our own knots are, where our own hurdles are, and how we might be perpetuating the same cycles.
that lead us to the same knots.
Something I'm constantly exploring is how are we freeing ourselves from our own knots, our own ties, but really in a few years, you're going to look back and you recognize you were continuing to tie new knots right?
So a big, focus and vision of these conversations are not only to sit in storytelling to widen our perspective and to learn from others' perspectives, but is also to learn from and receive the practical wisdom, the action-oriented things that we can do to integrate into our lives. But again, not in a way that's adding to our to-do list.
No, no, no, no, no, but really practical wisdom that will help to free ourselves in the in the subtle realms of the mind, of the heart, of our emotions, of all the punches we've been drinking through our years, right? This is about liberating ourselves, to free ourselves from our knots, to free ourselves from these entanglements, as I call them.
Honestly, I can't think of a more rebellious thing we can do right now. You know, the most threatening thing we can do is to free ourselves,
it feels like an act of empowerment for me to put my voice out there at a time when I'm being told to shut up or to sit down or that you don't matter. So timing is everything, right? And I know that this podcast is not for everyone. Like I said, I'm not here to be liked. I'm here to make a difference. And I recognize that my way of making a difference is not going to
to be in alignment with other peoples. So that's fine too. But if you're still listening this far along, thank you so very much. I really look forward to hosting this journey with you and being part of your journey as we move into these conversations.
I know I've been really sharing a lot about the heart and soul of the podcast. In terms of frequencies, I hope this comes out about every other week, but to be honest, like you I have a busy life as well. So my vision is every two weeks, but if it comes out every month, that's fine. It's okay. Just, make sure you check in on the podcast and listen to a new one.
There are some disclaimers I want to be really honest with you about. This is something that's really important to me as an educator. I start every new course or with disclaimers. Obviously the most important is the information in this podcast will be for educational purposes only. Nothing in this podcast will be used for diagnosis, creating a treatment plan or an evaluation. If you have a medical condition, always
seek out professional care from a trained and licensed professional.
this is not establishing a professional patient relationship I have to be really honest. I'm a little intimidated to start this podcast. I'm very nervous and I'm feeling very vulnerable. As I've shared with you, I mixed Asian American and actually that means nothing. And it means everything.
I do identify with my mixed Asian American background, but this is something that has been emerging throughout the last few decades, especially as I have continued to dive deeper and deeper into East Asian medicine. My relationship with identity is very complicated and I'm sure it will come up in the other podcast. But even though I do have mixed Asian American, Chinese, Japanese, Okinawan background, I
do not speak any of those languages. So it feels very vulnerable to even consider leading or guiding a podcast on the topic of Chinese medicine when I do not speak Chinese I just want you to be very clear on that. With that said, because of that limitation, I have...
to choose very discernently on the books and the teachers I study from and with translations used. same with Ayurveda and yoga. I do not read and write Sanskrit either or Hindi or any South Asian language. So I understand that this is a big hurdle.
if you're still listening and that's not an issue for you, please know that I do always consider myself a Forever Student and I will always continue to see myself as a Forever Student. if I pronounced something wrong, I apologize. Please send me a kind email. I would love to learn from you. that would be wonderful.
another disclaimer, I mean, this should be an obvious one, but I think it's really easy to put people who put themselves out in the public space, like a podcast or a vlog or a blog, as an expert. so I want to just set the bar really low here. Not really, but really, is to just remind you, I am very, very aware of my limitations. And so at any point, if I...
say something that seems wrong or needs to be fact-checked and I didn't do a good job fact-checking, please, again, send me a kind email and let me know. I'm more than happy, to learn from you. I know I do not know all things, I'm not a walking, talking smartphone, although wouldn't that be nice? there's my perfectionist coming out, right? I don't know all things, neither do you.
How wonderful is it to be human is what I'm saying. I will be cross-referencing other podcasts and books a lot. I will do my best to add these to the show notes. The show notes for this podcast will be hosted on Substack. That's S-U-B-S-T-A-C-K.
Substack is an amazing platform that I have been on for many years and I am excited to use it as my host and continuing conversations of this podcast No, I won't be on Facebook. I'm not really on social media that much anymore, mostly for my own mental health So if you are one of those people who
talks back to the podcast as you're listening to them. I know what you mean. I do that too. Or if you've always wanted to have a podcast where you get to continue the interaction or the conversation or contribute Substack is your place to go. you can go to Substack and look at YINspired and there you can subscribe. It's free. And that's where we will continue the conversations from this podcast.
I know that many of you have very full email boxes and I get that. However, it's still the best form of communication between myself and how to get information to you without it being owned by someone else, without selling my soul and without you having to sell your soul on another platform. So again, you are not required to, but if you are,
inspired, if you are interested in staying up to date, knowing when the new releases are out, getting show notes, getting links to books or podcasts or other references, to getting to know the guests in a more intimate way, seeing their bios and being able to link to their work. That's all going to be hosted on Substack.
Again, look for me, go to substack.com and look for Yinspired, Y-I-N-S-P-I-R-E-D and subscribe.
I think that wraps it up. Let me just look at my notes real quickly. my goodness. Okay. So maybe I'm not as done as I thought. See, I'm just going with the flow. Here we go. Unedited. So some of you might want to know who I am and why you want to listen to me. Well, honestly, if you're still listening to this, this might be the podcast for you to add to your list, but a little bit more about me.
So right now I'm recording these podcasts, From the Native American lands of the Powhatan, also known as Williamsburg, Virginia. I am currently the lead acupuncturist at William and Mary. I started their clinical services in the fall of 2023 when we first moved here. I also have a small faculty role teaching intro to East Asian medicine here. And I just feel very, very lucky to
have the opportunity to be here and to have their support This is not a William & Mary podcast though. What else about me that you might want to know? I'm a graduate of Pacific College of Health Sciences. When I graduated, it was still known as PCOM. I attended both the San Diego and the New York campuses and I graduated in 2011.
after completing and passing all my boards, immediately opened up my first practice in 2011. So I have been in practice for, oh my goodness, 13, 14 years if I do the math. But as I mentioned, I am a military spouse and I have moved nine times in the last 12 years. Hold on, I'm doing the math. I know it's been nine times, it might be 13 years, but regardless.
nine times in 12 years of our marriage. And you can only imagine the hurdles that that has had on my practice, not only my personal practice, but clinical practice, I am truly a wandering acupuncturist. But like I have always said, and it's even in my email signature, not all who wander are lost. So what do do when you move so often?
We won't get into it here, but just know that I definitely love travel. So it has suited me well. However, it has definitely been challenging in many ways. One of the threads through all of my moves and all of the clinical and practice hurdles that I have is that I was able to lean into my background in yoga in Ayurveda. Currently, I do consider myself semi-retired. However, I...
used those years, those moving years, creating online education and in-person workshops and courses and classes everywhere we moved all over the United States to the
Kingdom of Bahrain out there in the Middle East off the coast of Saudi Arabia to Okinawa, Japan. it was using my background in yoga, Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, and acupuncture that allowed me to continue with these moves and stay connected with clients, with students, and to create new opportunities wherever we move.
With this said, you will hear me focus on this idea of integrative medicine from a non-allopathic centered perspective,
As more cultural healthcare practices emerge in the United States, integrative medicine is not just between allopathic or the biomedical pharmaceutical model and something else, but it's much more of a integrated web of people who are coming to see a Chinese medicine practitioner.
and receive acupuncture may also be very open to and receiving other forms of cultural medicines at the same time. So what does that cross-cultural conversation look like, not only in healing itself as a patient, but also between practitioners? These are all very interesting topics to me, and how is it going to emerge as integrative medicine begins to become more popular?
I'm really excited to share with you some of the we will look at in future episodes. Obviously we have to lay a foundation of what is yin and yang for those of you who have not studied Chinese medicine or Asian philosophy. We'll talk about Qi, we'll talk about Prana, and there's so many names from it from different cultures. we'll look at the subtle energies, life-giving energies.
We'll look at what does trauma-informed pedagogy look like? What does trauma-informed healing spaces look like? And why does it matter?
As I've shared, I really don't mind touching my toe in the uncomfortable. I love the podcast, uncomfortable conversations with Josh Zepes and I'm really inspired by that way of learning by having uncomfortable conversations. So, you know,
We'll bring that here and we'll have uncomfortable conversations about what it's like to be a healthcare provider in the 21st century. for those of us who took the path less taken, what does it look like to be a healthcare rebel in the 21st century? How can we celebrate different models of doing business and practice?
How do we bring healing and medicine to communities, especially when some communities of care don't have access or don't like the current model that they have access to? I also have guests that bring their knowledge and wisdom about plant medicine, not only as a student, but as facilitators. We will look at consciousness and the role of consciousness in healing and what science has to say about it.
We'll also look at this idea of colonization or commodification, not only of medicine, not only of Chinese medicine, but also of our bodies, our minds, our hearts, and the wellness industry as a whole. We'll look at how can we begin to untangle ourselves from these binds?
I also will have us look at patient populations, client populations. What is it like working with teens, working with vets, military spouses, active duty, people who live in rural communities versus urban? I think it's really important that we hear from people who are working with different clientele from all different parts of not only the United States, but the globe.
so we can put into perspective why it's important to have diversity in the type of practices and that there's no one size fit all, in healing or medicine.
I truly feel like this podcast, has its own rhythm and has its own heartbeat. And I am being called in to be a steward of that. The way that I see medicine as an act of stewardship and to be engaged in cultural stewardship.
For now, I think that does it.
I know you have so many ways you could spend your time and energy. So thank you, deep, deep bows of gratitude for choosing to share your time and energy with me today and hopefully in the future.
If you want to know when new podcasts come out, like I said, please subscribe to my Substack at Yinspired.
Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen and please share this with someone you'd love to sit around the fire and have a heart to heart conversation with.
And if you don't share, that's okay too.
From my heart to yours, I hope you have a beautiful day.
Go create a day you love.
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